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Hogan Lovells has advised AMC Networks Central Europe on its February 1, 2015 acquisition of the Czech and Slovak feeds of the Film+ channel from IKO Group, advised by Riesz Law Office and Allen & Overy. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The Hogan Lovells team advising AMC Networks Central Europe General Counsel Csaba Toth in Budapest was led by Partner Sandor Bekesi, supported by Associate Gabor Koszo. IKO was assisted by Tamas Riesz of the Riesz Law Office and Allen & Overy Counsel Balazs Sahin-Toth.

According to Christopher Noblet, Hogan Lovells Managing Partner in Budapest: “We are pleased to have assisted AMC Networks Central Europe in this deal, which was their first regional acquisition since AMC acquired Chellomedia Central Europe last year and will further strengthen their regional presence.”

Schoenherr has announced that Slovenian attorneys Eva Skufca and Petra Smolnikar have been promoted to Partner in the firm’s Ljubljana office.

Skufca, who specializes in Corporate/M&A, eu & competition law, joined Schoenherr as a Senior Associate in October 2012, after spending a year and a half with Miro Senica and attorneys in Ljubljana. With Schoenherr she divided her time between the firm’s Ljubljana and Brussels offices. She received her law degree from the University of Ljubljana (graduating cum laude) in 2007, then obtained an LL.M. from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2012. She’s been admitted to the Slovenian bar since 2013.

Smolnikar, who specializes in Corporate/M&A, labor & employment, and regulatory work, joined Schoenherr in 2011, after spending time in-house with Komak, TaxGroup, and Avektis. She also graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana, in her case in 2009. She, like Skufca, she was admitted to the Slovenian bar in 2013.

Simultaneously, Schoenherr announced the lateral hire of Daniel Gera in the firm’s Budapest office. Gera, who started his legal career at PWC Legal, joins from Gide Loyrette Nouel’s Budapest office. He specializes in corporate and employment law. According to Schoenherr Hungary Managing Partner Kinga Hetenyi, “the nearly 10 years’ experience and knowledge of Daniel Gera provides a significant competitive advantage for our constantly expanding law office.”

Earlier this month, the firm announced two other Partner appointments in Vienna and Bucharest. 

Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners has announced that Senior Associate Anastasia Saveliova has been promoted to Partner. Saveliova will focus on the development of corporate and capital markets practice.  

Saveliova has been with NSP since its founding in 2006. She specializes in complex reorganization and restructuring and public transactions in the securities market. 

NSP Partner Alexander Nektorov expressed enthusiasm at the promotion, saying: “Almost 10 years together. That’s how long I have worked with Nastya on the same team. Sometimes we fight or argue for 3 nights … And sometimes she tells me: ‘Everything is clear, we’ll do it.’ And that’s it! Do what? I haven’t even said anything! I throw my hands in the air and plunge back into my work, knowing that everything will be done and the client will be happy. Sometimes I find myself thinking that I can not imagine my life without professional Anastasia! Our team congratulates Anastasia on her deserved partnership in NSP. Keep it up! “

SPCG has acted as legal adviser to Centrum Biurowe Vinci spolka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia in relation to a loan the company was given by mBank Hipoteczny to refinance the construction of its Vinci Office Center building. The loan was used to repay a construction loan granted by Powszechna Kasa Oszcz?dnosci Bank Polski.  

The Vinci Office Center is a modern a modern A-class office building in Krakow, commissioned in March 2010, with a total of 28,000 square meters of office space, over 14 stories (including two underground levels). In June 2011, the building was honored by the Polish Association of Civil Engineers and Technicians and the Minister of Infrastructure with a first-class award in the category of public buildings in the 2010 Project of the Year competition.  

The SPCG team was led by Partner Wawrzyniec Rajchel, working with Leszek Czop.

Havel, Holasek & Partners has announced that it came in first among law firms in the fourth report by the Czech Student Association on the most preferred Czech employers.

According to the firm, the TOP Employers project is conducted with the participation of Czech university students and is implemented in cooperation with the GfK survey agency GfK, student organizations, and corporate partners.

According to Managing Partner Jaroslav Havel, “this year students selected us as the best employer in the law category, which we regard as a recognition of our continuous development. We highly appreciate this award because recruitment of talented and motivated young lawyers is our priority and the basis on which we further strengthen our position.”  

The firm presently employs more than 180 lawyers and 80 students, mostly from law faculties. “In our firm even students have the possibility to participate in very interesting work for clients that are among most successful Czech and global companies in their sectors,” said Havel. “A wide spectrum of specialized teams gives them the opportunity to learn from colleagues who are experts in their legal fields.”

Corporate lawyer Onur Ergun has left Taboglu & Demirhan in Turkey to join YaziciLegal. Ergun specializes in Corporate/M&A, privatizations, capital markets, and project finance. He becomes the 5th partner at YaziciLegal, along with 21 other fee earners.

Ergun received his law degree from Istanbul University in 2003, and then got an LL.M. from the Free University in Berlin in 2005. He spent the first 9 years of his post-trainee career with Taboglu & Demirhan, becoming partner at that firm in 2014. 

When asked why he made the change to YaziciLegal, Ergun replied, simply, “In order to be a part of one of the fastest improving and growing law firms in Turkey and to contribute to the firm.”

CHSH has announced that it provided Romanian and Austrian-law advice to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (a constituent part (along with Hitachi and the IHI Corporation) in the joint venture that makes up Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery), on the global joint venture between Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery and Siemens that closed on January 7, 2015. Hogan Lovells, which was global counsel for MHI, had announced its role in the joint venture in May, 2014.

The new joint venture is called Primetals, and will be based in London. It will be a global full spectrum supplier of facilities, products, and services for the iron, steel, and aluminum industries, and will have more than 9,000 employees, with main divisional centers in Linz, Erlangen, Hiroshima, and Tokyo.

MHI, which is listed on the Tokyo stock exchange, is a multinational engineering, electrical equipment, and electronics company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It employs over 60,000 people worldwide. Siemens, which is listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange, is a multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate company headquartered in Berlin and Munich. It is Europe’s largest engineering company, and employs over 350,000 people worldwide.

CHSH Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati advised MHI as Austrian and Romanian counsel in connection with the establishment of the joint venture, in particular the transfer of Siemens VAI Metals Technologies GmbH (formerly known as Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau GmbH) from Siemens to Primetals Technologies, Limited. The Austrian team at CHSH consisted of Partners Heinrich Foglar-Deinhardstein, Julian Feichtinger, and Mark Krenn, Senior Attorney Susanne Molitoris, and Associates Stephanie Sauer, Stefanie Heimel, and Christina Wieser. The Romanian team at CHSH consisted of Partner Mirela Nathanzon, Senior Attorney Zizi Popa, and Associate Anda Nicoara. 

As reported previously, Hogan Lovells advised MHI as global lead transaction counsel. The Hogan Lovells team was led out of the London office by Corporate Partner Ben Higson, supported by a large cross-border, cross-practice team from over 30 jurisdictions, which worked closely with the legal and M&A teams at MHI to complete the transaction. With this joint venture both partners are forming a globally operating complete provider for plants, products and services for the iron, steel and aluminium industry. Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery, Inc. – an MHI consolidated group company with equity participation by Hitachi, Ltd. and IHI Corporation – holds a 51-percent and Siemens a 49-percent stake in the joint venture. 

Dentons has announced the promotion of five lawyers to Partner and 14 lawyers to Counsel in its European offices. The promotions became effective on January 1, 2015.

The Firm’s 5 newly promoted Partners include Aldona Kowalczyk in Warsaw and Peter Kubina in Bratislava. 

According to Dentons, Kowalczyk “is one of the most renowned specialists in the field of Public Procurement area, including PPP projects.” Aldona has focused on advising in public procurement cases for the last 15 years. She counsels both awarding bodies and bidders on public procurement cases regarding public tenders. The firm describes her as being “highly experienced in appeals procedures and representation of clients before the National Chamber of Appeals (former Panel of Arbitrators) at the Public Procurement Office.”

Kubina began his professional career with 7 years at Allen & Overy in Bratislava before moving laterally to Dentons in January 2013. He is a senior member of the Banking & Finance and Dispute Resolution Practice Groups in Bratislava, where focuses primarily on banking and finance transactions (including corporate lending, acquisition and leveraged finance, real estate finance, project, export and asset finance, and capital markets), dispute resolution matters (both litigation and arbitration), and M&A transactions in the real estate sector. He received his law degree and Doctorate from the Univerzita Komenskeho in Bratislava.

Among the 14 new Counsel are Agnieszka Kulinska, Bartlomiej Kordeczka, Jakub Podkowa, Dariusz Stolarek, Michal Smiechowski, and Pawel Wanasz, all in Poland, Jana Matiskova, Tomas Osicka, and Marketa Tvrda in Prague, and Alex Stolarsky in Moscow.

“It gives me great pleasure to congratulate these talented individuals on their well-deserved promotions,” commented Tomasz Dabrowski, European Chief Executive Officer. “Their deep understanding of their clients and markets as well as their energy, drive and commitment to building their respective practices make them excellent candidates. They will perform a vital role in driving forward our strategy to build the law firm of the future.”

Dorda has announced that AustrianAttorney Veit Ohlberger has been promoted to Partner at the firm. According to the firm, “Thus, our firm enhances its expertise in the practice areas of commercial law and distribution on a long-term basis.”

Ohlberger specializes in national and international commercial law and distribution, as well as M&A and international arbitration. After working for DBJ from 2005-2008 as a student and then an associate, he left in 2008 to administer cross-border arbitration cases at the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission in Beijing, and then joined the Beijing branch of Beiten Burkhardt. He returned to DBJ in April 2009, and he has headed the firm’s China desk since 2010. 

Ohlberger received his law degree (2002) and doctorate (2004) from the University of Vienna, and he obtained a master’s degree from the University of Oxford in 2005. 

SRFF-Fabry has confirmed the addition of Judit Szoradi as a new Partner as of February 1.

Prior to joining SRFF-Fabry, Szoradi was the Head of the Work Out and Restructuring Legal Department at Erste Bank Hungary. She first joined the bank in October 2008 as an In-House Counsel. Prior to that, she worked for CMS Cameron McKenna as a Trainee. 

Szoradi told CEE Legal Matters she joined the SRFF-Fabry because of “their dynamic and friendly team with high expertise in their practice areas.” She added: “I felt a strong nexus to what they are doing and how they are doing it.”

SRFF-Fabry is the result of the recent affiliation between the Budapest-based Fabry Law Office with US law firm Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference. Previously, the Hungarian office was affiliated with the Czech firm PRK Partners.